Printed article



June 6, 1944. H. MENIHAN PRINTED ARTICLE Original Filed June 29, 1938INYENTOR. Hqgfi Mam/law W, k/V'u ATTORNEYS Patented June 6, 1944 PRINTEDARTICLE Hugh Menihan, New York, N. Y., assignor .to American Bank NoteCompany, New. York, .N. Y., a corporation of New York Originalapplication June 29, .1938, Serial No.

.IMLSerial Np. :40.4,017

2 Claims.

This invention :relates generally to the production of solid articlescarrying printed matter and has particular reference .to articles havingnovel characteristics made by what may be termed a combination ofprinting and molding which also is novel.

Thepresent application is a division of application-Serial'No.216,527filed June 29, 1938.

One object -of the invention is to provide a method of producing sucharticles whereby in effecting the printing a printing ink'or similarmedium is at least in part "incorporated in the material at the surfaceof the article as distinguished from applying such ink or medium as adeposit upon and adhering to the surface of the article.

Another object of the invention is to provide away in which-articles ofthe character indicated can be produced at low cost for material andmanufacturing equipment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of printing uponor decorating metallic surfaces whereby the "printing may be done bysteel engravings or the like, with exact reproother advantages, will bemore lasting than one on which the reproduction is a superficial depositof ink or enamel attached to the :surface of the article.

Still another object is to provide novel articles composed of substancesto which inks and similar mediums do notreadilyadhere and which carry inpermanent form reproductions applied from engraved printing elements.This is efiected by a combination-oi printing and molding whereby theink or similar medium used to apply the.

printed or decorative matter is at least in part incorporated with thematerial as an incident to forming the articles.

Other important objects and advantages will become apparent from theexplanation hereinafter made of one method whereby the novel articlesare made. said explanation being illustrated by drawings which accompanyand form a part of this specification.

In said drawing:

Fig. l is a conventional and diagrammatic view, partly in cross-section,illustrating the cooperating parts of a moid, printing element and partsof a press operated suitable for carrying out the method and shows thematerial which durable article.

Divided and this application July 25;

is to be shaped and printed upon, deposited in and leveled offin thecavity'of the :mold.

Fig, 2 is'a view similar to Fig. 1 except that the parts are on a largerscale to give an opportunity better to represent conventionally theengraving on the face of the printing-element.

Fig. 3 is the same as ,Fig. 2 except that the molding and printingdie isshown closed to mold and ;print the article.

Fig. 4 shows an article produced by the operation illustrated in Figs.1, 2 and 3.

Fig. 5 is aconventional showing of a mold, die and ram arranged to;print .upon both sides of the article as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The method or process may be carried out with any material which can beprepared in a powdered or comminuted form and then solidified bycompression. There are a number of such materials which may be employed,but metallic powders of aluminum, copper, nickel, iron, zinc, tin, or amixture of two or .more of thesesubstances are peculiarly suitable.

Such metallic powders are commonly found in the open market or canreadily be produced.

Carrying out the method involves the use of a mold in which thepowdercan be confined and a cooperating ipressure head or ram forming partof'a press capable-of applying pressure sufficient to compress thepowder into a solid and One or more of the interior faces of the moldwhen closed byithe ram consists of an inked printingelement againstwhich the powder is compressed. .One use to which "theprocess hasbeenput is to .produce articles bearing a resemblance to a coin, so far asdimensions are concerned, and having a design or decoration giving thearticles a particularsignificance.

When :only .one side of "the article is to :be decorated the apparatusemployed and the result are as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Thepowdered or comminuted substance ID, Fig. l, is placed in the cavity l Iof a mold [2, the quantity depending upon the thickness desired, and thesubstance then leveled ofi to substantially uniform thickness or depth.This leveling is, however, not a critical matter, as the articles willhave uniformity because of the great pressures employed even though theleveling is not carefully done. A die 13 carried by the head IQ of a ramis then inked and wiped. The ram I4 forms a part of a hydraulic press ora mechanical press of the eccentric or toggle movement type. Any presswhich is capable of applying heavy pressures to the ram may be employed.

ink in the engraved recesses of the dieis incor-' porated with thepowdered metal lyingpbeneath the surface which is in contact with thedie, thereby reproducing on and in the metal of the finished article thematter represented by the engraving. The ink embedded in the metalserves to some extent as a bond for holding inposi tion ink on thesurface of the article.

If it is desired to print or decorate both of the flat surfaces of anarticle such as shown in Fig. 4, an engraved die l5 (Fig. 5) may beinked and wiped and-then put faceup in the bottom of the recess of amold, and a cooperating die l3 carried by the ram is likewise inked andwiped..- The press is then operated to compress the material I aspreviously described and the ink will thereuponbe applied and at leastsome of it incorporated with the material in the same manner aspreviously described in connection with Figs. 2 and 3.

In Figs. 1,2 and 3 the bottom of the mold cavity H is formed by asection I6 which is removable to facilitateremoval of the finishedarticle.

' which can be applied to an engraved surface and wiped, with thenecessary residue left in the lines of the engraving, may be used. It isapparent, therefore, that the printing 'or decorating may be done inblack or in other colors. It is preferred to use plate printing inksbecause they are particularly adapted to wiping where the printing isfrom steel or other {metal dies on which the matter to be printed' -orreproduced is rep- In Fig. 5 a removable section l6 also is shown, 7

but the inked die I5 might serve the purpose, making a separate sectionunnecessary.

However, when the two faces of an article such as shown in Fig. -4 areto be printed, it is preferred to mount both the die l3 and the die l5on the rams of a double rampress whichisconstructed to move the rams insuch a manner as to compress and solidify metal powder deposited on thelower die. In some instances the lower die l5 may not actually beattached to the lower ram, the die being used to support the metalpowder until the mold is' positioned with the lower die over the lowerram of the press.

.The ink carrying recesses or lines on print-' 'ing die facesmaybe'prepared in any suitable manner, including handengraving,photo-engraving, mechanical engraving oretching. Even very'fine.lines'in the die are reproduced with surprising accuracy andcompleteness of detail on and in the finished article so that the mostcomplicated designs or illustrations may be engraved on the die andreproduced by the pressure and printing;

'Any ink or colored paste suitable forthe pura pose'may be employed;that is, any ink :or paste just as satisfactory as though thearticles'had been produced from blanks cut from solid metal. The resultshave been particularly satisfactory when aluminum and copper powdershave been employed. It is a matter of common knowledge that it isdifficult to decoratewithink or. enamel articles composed of thesemetals by any of the usual printing or decorating processes. This isbecause the prior practice has always involved attaching the ink orenamel to the surface and the metals referred to are of such anaturethat it is diflicult to make such decorative materials permanentlyadhere. This difficulty has, been met to some extent by a preliminarymechanical or chemical treatment of the surfaces to. be, printed ordecorated, but the present invention makes such' treatments unnecessary..With this invention metal must beworn away or removed to affect orobliterate the reproduction.

While the invention is illustrated as being used to produce articlesresembling a coin or medallion it obviously is not limited to theproduction of such articles. By using sectional molds an endless varietyof shapes may be produced with a plurality of printedor decoratedsurfaces. Further, the invention iscapable of other. modifications andchanges and it is therefore not the desire to be, limited by theforegoing description and the illustrations containedin the drawingexcept as indicated by theclaims which follow.

What is claimed is: j T

1. A metal object-composed of metal powder compressed into a solid andhaving at least one face carrying an ink ornamental design or the likewith some of the ink incorporated .inthe metal powder before the powderis fully compressed.

p 2. A metal object composed-of. metal powder HUGH MENIHAN. 7

